​After twenty years in the theater, Elena Hartwell turned her dramatic skills to fiction. In addition to her work as a novelist, Elena teaches playwriting at Bellevue College and tours the country to lead writing workshops. When she’s not writing or teaching, her favorite place to be is at the farm with her horses, Jasper and Chance, or at her home, on the middle fork of the Snoqualmie River in North Bend, Washington, with her husband, their dog, Polar, and their trio of cats, Jackson, Coal Train, and Luna, aka, “the other cat upstairs.” Elena holds a B.A. from the University of San Diego, a M.Ed. from the University of Washington, Tacoma, and a Ph.D. from the University of Georgia.